All about the flavor of a small mountain city and the surrounding outback: neighborhood surprises ... wildflowers and nature ... the forest ... people and events ... plus occasional comments on science fiction, music, and the Great Wide World Beyond

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

County Fair: Chickens Galore

I'd be willing to bet that a big percentage of visitors to the county fair are there for the thrill of the rides. But there probably wouldn't be a fair if it weren't for farmers and the products of the land.

A good third of the space over at our new fairgrounds was devoted to the animals -- big and small. Here, a focus on the small. Chickens, to be specific. And as an honor to Little Sir Galahad, the gallant Mille Fleur bantam rooster who resides at The One Acre Wood.

As a townie, raised neither on the farm nor in the big city, I'm pretty naive about such matters. The critter above, for example, along with his red brethren, is what a Real Chicken looks like in my mind.

Oops! How wrong I have been all these years. A university down in OZ offers this handy dandy chart of the varieties of chook, as the Aussies call this species of foul.

Visits to the One Acre Wood and, now, the Yavapai County Fair, have certainly improved my education re: barnyard denizens. What a wonderful variety I've become acquainted with, if ever so briefly.

Of course, along with chickens go the eggs. There appears to be a second prize-winner (red ribbon) in this batch.